Mission Statement

Mind Over Matter Arts CIC is proud to present Mind Over Slammer, our national spoken word initiative combining free, high-quality creative workshops with regional poetry slams, culminating in a Grand Finale in the heart of London.

We are firmly committed to elevating literature and performance, particularly within communities and amongst voices that have too often been overlooked.

Mind Over Slammer is more than a poetry competition. It is a national creative development programme designed to **empower communities, uncover exceptional talent and create genuine pathways into spoken word and performance.**

We passionately believe in the transformative power of poetry and performance.

As part of our commitment to progressing slam culture in the UK, Mind Over Slammer provides FREE, high-quality spoken word workshops led by experienced industry professionals.

Our workshops are designed to develop both writing and performance, giving participants practical tools they can continue to use throughout their creative journeys.

Whether someone is an established writer, an emerging performer or has never written or performed poetry before, we want them to feel that Mind Over Slammer is a space for them.

Through carefully facilitated creative development, we aim to build confidence, encourage self-expression, unlock creativity and cultivate a strong sense of artistic camaraderie.

Because talent exists everywhere.

Opportunity should too.

Mind Over Slammer is rooted in active engagement with the communities we serve.

Inclusivity sits at the heart of our ethos.

We recognise that access to high-quality arts opportunities is not equally distributed across the country. Geography, income, confidence, representation and access to established creative networks can all become barriers to participation.

We want to help remove them.

We actively seek to engage people from communities and backgrounds that have historically been underrepresented within the arts, including working-class communities and people living in areas where opportunities to participate in professional spoken word activity may be limited.

Our artistic teams reflect a broad range of lived experiences and cultural backgrounds, helping us create spaces in which different voices, perspectives and stories are welcomed and celebrated.

Mind Over Slammer doesn't stop at creative development.

It creates a pathway to performance.

Regional heats give poets the opportunity to take their work from the workshop room to the stage, perform in front of live audiences and experience the energy, excitement and challenge of competitive spoken word.

Successful poets then progress to the **Mind Over Slammer Grand Finale in London**, bringing together exceptional voices discovered through the programme from across the country.

Our ambition is not simply to find a winner.

We want to discover artists.

We want to develop performers.

We want to create connections.

And we want to provide opportunities that continue beyond the competition itself.

Where you live or how much money you have should not determine whether you can take an opportunity.

To help make progression genuinely accessible, Mind Over Slammer provides **travel and accommodation bursaries for regional finalists travelling to the London Grand Finale**.

Our hope is that initiatives such as these remove financial and geographical barriers and help make creative ambitions achievable realities.

Participation in our workshops is free, allowing people to access professional creative development regardless of their financial circumstances.

Mind Over Slammer is delivered by Mind Over Matter Arts CIC, an organisation founded on the belief that creativity can open conversations around mental health and the human experience.

Spoken word gives us a powerful way to explore the subjects that shape our lives.

Our workshops and events encourage artists to find their own voice and speak authentically about whatever matters to them.

We don't tell people what their poetry should be about.

Instead, we provide the tools, platform and support for them to tell their own stories.

Through poetry and performance, we want to create spaces for expression, connection and conversation while continuing Mind Over Matter Arts' wider mission of challenging stigma surrounding mental health.

Mind Over Slammer is also an investment in the future of slam poetry.

We want to contribute to a thriving national slam culture that is exciting, accessible, representative and artistically ambitious.

By combining professional creative development with regional competition and national progression, we aim to create opportunities for emerging voices while providing established poets with a platform on which to challenge themselves and showcase their work.

We want poets from different towns, cities, communities and backgrounds meeting one another, competing with one another, learning from one another and becoming part of a wider national spoken word community.

Our mission is to unlock artistic potential while cultivating a diverse, inclusive and ambitious landscape for poetry and performance.

Create opportunities where they are needed.

Remove financial and geographical barriers.

Develop writers and performers.

Discover and champion exceptional talent.

Increase representation within spoken word.

Build confidence and creative communities.

Create conversations around mental health and the human experience.

And help progress slam poetry culture across the UK.

We invite you to join us on this journey of self-expression, artistic development, performance and community building through the extraordinary art of spoken word.

Together, we can build a future for poetry that is more accessible, more representative and more ambitious.

Your words matter.

Your story matters.

Your voice matters.